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Library News

UN’s founding documents now freely available

San Francisco Conference (UN Photo/McCreary)

Wednesday 20 December 2017

Topics: Digital Collections

Interested in researching the creation of the United Nations? How was it established, and why is it organised as it is? How did the five permanent members of the Security Council gain the right to veto, and how was the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice decided? Who wrote and approved the UN Charter?

The San Francisco Conference, formally known as the United Nations Conference on International Organization, was the meeting of 50 nations in the summer of 1945 that established the United Nations. Lengthy discussions and deliberations took place amongst the over 1,500 delegates during these months. The Conference culminated with the signing of the Charter of the United Nations by the nations on 26 June 1945, with the Charter officially coming into force on 24 October 1945.

The entire proceedings of the San Francisco Conference have been digitized by the Dag Hammarskjöld Library’s Digitization Team, and can now be accessed globally from the United Nations Digital Library. The collection is searchable by volume.